EXCERPT FROM PRESS RELEASE:
“The name of the show, The Pump that Jack Used, is a “tongue and cheek” play on children’s picture book titles, applied to the executive political workings of the all mighty oil industry. While conducting research in preparation for the show, Anthony Thompson Shumate discovered that the same 15 people sit on almost every major oil company board and are either directly or indirectly connected to many technology, utility, and health insurance corporate boards as well. Through closed door negotiations, this powerful corporate cartel scratches one another’s backs, lowering or raising prices, on negotiable whims. Shumate discovered this information through open and document sources readily available to anyone, and which include annual reports, corporate websites, a database of the names of important people in the corporate world, brochures and leaflets. Shumate deftly asserts that this handful of powerful people control almost every aspect of our lives, while we remain oblivious and subservient to their control.
The Pump that Jack Used includes a multimedia interactive projection, drawings, sculptures and vinyl graphics. Employing the design aesthetic of corporate culture, Anthony humorously exposes the underpinnings of oil executive politics and their relationship to our everyday lives.”
VIEW THE INTERACTIVE “THE PUMP THAT JACK USED.”
